Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets in 7 Days | Paint Steps

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This is the second post in my series on how to paint your kitchen cabinets in 7 days. I’m excited to share the tips and tricks I learned along the way while remodeling my kitchen, purely with paint!

If you missed the first post, you can read all about what you need to do to prepare for this project, plus the full materials list {here}.

This post may contain affiliate links where I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. The Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines paint featured in this post was provided by KILZ; all opinions and reviews are my own.

How To Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets in 7 Days | The Paint

The first step in transforming your kitchen the DIY way is to choose a quality paint.

As you read in my first post of this series, I chose to use Magnolia Home’s Trim-Cabinetry paint in the color, Shiplap. Magnolia’s paint is a KILZ product so the quality is superior and I’m so happy I went with this brand. The final sheen is a semi-gloss which is perfect for durability and wiping up my kiddo’s dirty hand prints (and foot prints, if we are being honest here).

Whichever brand you choose to use, I would highly recommend at least a semi-gloss. For those who might choose chalk paint, make sure you seal it well to increase the durability.

Also, make sure to choose a high quality primer if you are covering wood cabinetry to seal in the tannin. It would be a sad day if in a year your pristine white cabinets started turning yellow from the tannin bleeding through.

Moral of the story: Don’t skimp on your primer and paint! Buy high quality, even if that means you have to shell out a few more dollars.

To start us out, let’s take a gander at the BEFORE.

Paint Steps

Once you have prepared your cabinetry by removing the hardware, cleaning, and sanding, like I laid out for you {here}, you are ready to paint!

If you follow along with me on Instagram then you know I filmed my entire project and posted them to Instagram stories. I started by setting up a work station using canned goods to elevate the doors.

Oh sure, you can be all boring and buy the paint pyramids they make specifically for this purpose…but you can also just use what’s in your cupboard! 😉

After I propped all my doors up to make it easier to paint the edges, and spread out my drawers willy nilly wherever I could find a spot, I started to trim the cabinets with primer.

Prime

If you are wondering why I used a primer when Magnolia’s paint already has Kilz in it, then let’s just say I am extra precautious. These wood cabinets are very orange and I wanted to ensure that the tannin wouldn’t bleed through by properly priming them.

Plus, a good coat of primer is an important base for your final paint coat to stick to. Simply put: It increases longevity and durability.

After taping areas you want to avoid painting, start the priming process by using a high quality brush (my favorite brush can be found {here}) to trim out the areas that you aren’t able to fit a small roller.

I started with the cabinet base, then worked on the drawer fronts, and finished the project with the cupboard doors.

Once you have trimmed out the space, you can start rolling on primer with a 4 inch roller.

Tip: Don’t be goopy! When you’re using a roller, make sure not to saturate it too heavily. This can cause drips and can clog up your hardware holes. You don’t want to cause yourself more frustration down the road by having to sand down drips or dig paint out of your existing screw holes.

I chose to apply two coats of primer for extra coverage.

Caulk

After you’ve primed you’ll start to notice areas where seams are showing. This can occur in between cabinets, around moldings, or on cupboard doors.

If you want a professional finish you MUST caulk these areas prior to painting. Caulking is very easy to do; just make sure you use a paintable caulk.

As you can see, before there are exposed seams where the paint has beaded showing unsightly gaps.

A little caulk, some messy fingers, and 30 minutes later the gaps are filled and my cabinets instantly looked more professional.

Paint

Once you have thoroughly primed the space and caulked all your showing seams, you simply repeat the paint process two more times!

Tip: Paint the backs of your cupboard doors first! This way you can put the final coat on the face of the cabinet without worrying about laying it face down and potentially marring your paint job.

When I was applying my final coat of paint to the cupboard doors I liked to use the dip and dab method to get into odd angles and around moldings.

Dip & Dab

Using your roller, dip only the tip of the roller into the paint and then dab it lightly on your paint tray to remove the excess.

Next, start in the MIDDLE of your cupboard door, not at a corner, and use only the tip of your roller to “draw” a line of paint around the molding.

By starting in the middle of the door you are able to, more or less, push the paint around the perimeter of the door without the corners getting too saturated with paint.

If you were to start in the corners, all of the paint would pool up there first and it would be difficult to move it around the rest of the door.

You can also use your roller for all of the drawer and door edges. Simply angle the roller however you need to in order to get into the ridges and roll on the paint, again, making sure not to oversaturate the roller.

Let Cure

Once you have finished painting your cabinets (I used two coats of primer and two coats of paint) you must allow them to cure.

Follow the instructions on your paint can to determine how long to allow your cabinets to cure before using them again. For instance, Magnolia’s paint advised at least 4 hours of dry time before touching but 7 days before washing. So while it is acceptable to reinstall your drawers and doors fairly quickly, it is another thing to heavily use them.

The wait time is the worst. I totally get it. I allowed my doors to dry off the hinges for a full 24 hours before reinstalling them. And then I severely warned my family not to use the kitchen hard for a full week. 😉

Re-Install Hardware

After you’ve let your cabinets cure for the recommended time period you can reinstall the hinges and knobs or pulls. This is the best step!!! I love putting a project back together. It’s satisfying to piece the puzzle back together after living in chaos for a week.

I also spray painted my existing knobs Satin Black before reinstalling them. Rather than spending over $100 on new hardware, I spent $4 on one can of spray paint and took 20 minutes to spruce them up.

This is such a simple solution to outdated hardware if you’re looking for a budget friendly way to update those as well.

Next Step: Update the Backsplash

Painting the cabinetry moved my kitchen into the 21st century by leaps and bounds. But I was still not in love with the other finishes. The backsplash wasn’t my style, the pendant lights are outdated and too small for the space and the upper cabinets made me feel claustrophobic.

So in the next post of the series I’ll show you how I updated this backsplash as well!

UPDATED: The Post is live on how I painted my tile backsplash! You can find the full tutorial {here}.

And my final post {HERE} will show all the finishing touches, plus how I opened up the space without removing the soffit.

It kind of kills me a little to leave you without all the styled and pretty pictures of this space, but they are coming!! The next two posts will show the continued transformation. I hope this has been helpful to you as your attempt to paint your kitchen cabinets in 7 days!

Looking for More Painting Tips?

• How to Paint a Room Fast in 5 Steps
• How to Paint Wood Trim
• How to Paint Windows Without Tape
• How to Paint a Deck
• How to Paint a Tile Backsplash

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